THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Aquavit Restaurant Review

: When Aquavit crashed the Twin Cities restaurant scene a year ago, we were a little overwhelmed by the hype. Executive chef Marcus Samuelsson was hot from Aquavit's triumphant New York location and the idea that such a world-renowned chef would split his time between one of the world's restaurant capitals and our modest burg made our heads spin. Now that Aquavit, housed on the ground floor of the IDS Building, Minneapolis' premiere business address, has had time to settle in we regret to report mixed feelings about this sumptuous but uneven restaurant. We adore the interior, with its light wood, cool lighting and clean modern lines, and we admire Samuelsson's creativity and panache, but we find that dishes like the pastrami crusted hot smoked salmon are busy and confused. Better to stick to the wild game like the dark and interesting black cardamom crusted venison or the spot-on salt-cured duck tournedos with mustard greens, seared foie gras and mango sauce. True to its name, Aquavit does offer a fine selection of the Swedish liqueur and the desserts, such as the warm chocolate ganache with frozen mint soufflé is transcendent. For those who want to sample the menu's wild experiments without spending as much money, the café offers a more reasonable priced menu and a three-course prix fixe dinner.